Keep Breathing
by TaliaFox
Summary: Trapped in a dungeon-esque room, Danny will have to keep his mouth shut even as his partner suffers in front of him to keep an old case of his safe from danger. Steve!whump injured!Steve worried!Danny/team


**Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine, y'all. If they were, this would be cannon.**

 **Note: I am not a medical professional of any kind. I understand that some of this is not correct; just go with it, I looked up some stuff after I'd written most of this and didn't want to go back and change anything.**

 **Also, since this is whump, there is some blood and gore as well as some language. Be warned going in. Nothing too major, in my opinion, but I thought I should mention it just in case. Hope you enjoy!**

 _The_ _warehouse_ _exploded_.

The thought had Danny jerking himself into awareness, groaning as he shuffled his sore body on the ground, planting a firm hand on the ground in an attempt to stop his rolling vision. He heard a scraping sound, cringing at what the shrill squeal did to his pounding head.

"Danny?" Kono's voice.

He groaned again, half in response and half in way of telling her to quiet down. "He's awake," Chin said.

"Danno, c'mon, man. Wake up." Steve's voice. Definitely. It sounded weird, though, like it was coming from a speaker or something.

Deciding he'd had enough and wanting to make sure his team was safe, he blinked his eyes open, letting them adjust to the soft light around him.

He took a minute to get a sense of his surroundings. He was on some sort of concrete, the cool ground freezing him. He looked straight ahead to Kono, chained by the hands to the wall dungeon-style with a steel door a few feet from her. Shifting his hands, he realized he was chained up the same with a few feet of steel links allowing him a small bit of freedom. He perked up, glancing around to see Chin across from Kono in the same state and Steve was between them and right in front of him.

At first, his eyes glazed across Steve as he took in all sides of him, but his gaze snapped back as he did a double take, eyes going wide.

"What the hell?" he said, wincing as he sat up, chains rattling as he pressed his hand on the side of his head to calm whatever was in his head and banging to be released.

"My sentiments exactly," Kono said the same time Steve asked if he was okay. "Am I okay? Steven, what the hell?"

"You've said that already, Danny."

"I think it bears repeating."

And it did. Ten feet in front of Danny was a cage that looked like it was made of glass with no visible holes in it except for the large hole in the back receding into the wall, but Danny couldn't see what was on the other side. Inside the glass cage was none other than Steve. He wasn't chained like the rest of the team, but it didn't do them any good when he was trapped. Of course, Danny thought, my trouble magnet of a partner finds himself in a glass canister.

"What did you do?" Danny asked.

Steve shifted, but Danny could see him relax in his stance by knowing he was fine.

"Why do you automatically assume everything is my fault?"

Danny opened his mouth to respond when Chin poked in. "I think we have bigger issues right now."

"Yeah, what's the plan, boss?" Kono's words reflected the many flippant times she'd said it before, but they held a stonier tone now, her eyes focused.

Steve sighed, shifting foot to foot as he glanced around his sealed cell, running his hands along the sides as he traced its outline. When he reached the back, he knelt down to look into the hole disappearing into the wall.

"What is that?" Danny asked, finally on his feet.

"I'm not sure," Steve's voice echoed. "But it looks like there's some kind of ridges next to it. It might be a door of some kind; maybe I could-"

 _Boom_! The sound reverberated throughout the room, making the four members of Five-Oh freeze and turn to the door near Kono. Thudding of footsteps captured their attention.

 _Thud_.

 _Thud_.

 _Thud_.

Closer and closer, until the sounds stopped outside the door.

Danny's eyes flicked to his partner, and he took a moment to recognize that Steve had wandered back over toward the side of the glass closest to his team with his body poised for action.

As he focused back on the clinking of the lock turning and the door opening, Danny took comfort from the fact that SuperSEAL was taking hold.

The door swung open, banging against the wall as a well-dressed man outfitted in a suit and tie waltzed in, two thugs following a few paces behind.

The man walked straight in front of Danny, blocking his view of his partner until Steve walked a few steps to his right, allowing Danny to just make him out over the man's shoulder as he began to speak. "Daniel Williams. Let's talk."

Despite the situation, Danny felt his frustration for his partner grow when he saw him smirking out of the corner of his eye. He could imagine him later gloating about how it wasn't his fault they were trapped there.

"Yeah, sure, whaddaya wanna talk about? Although, I must say I find it easier to talk when I'm not chained," Danny's voice raised throughout the sentence.

The man smirked. "I'm glad you're so talkative. That will make this much easier, I assure you."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Look, I get it, I do. You give a creepy speech that's supposed to scare me and you say you'll let us go if I tell you, but we both know that's not true, so let's just get to the part you tell me your name and what you want, all right?"

The man's face hardened. "Fine, if that's how you want to play it. You can call me Reese."

"Let me guess, that's not your real name?" Danny interrupted, chains jingling as he moved his arms.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That's not the point here, though, is it?"

They stared each other down for a few quiet minutes before Steve cleared his throat. "Look, this is riveting stuff-"

"It's rude to interrupt, Commander McGarrett," Reese chided, finally breaking eye contact to wheel around and look at Steve. Danny frowned when he realized the man was just out of reach with his shackles on. "Besides, it's about to get interesting."

Reese glanced at Kono and Chin before settling his eyes back on Danny, a crazed look entered his eye, making Danny shiver at the maniacal gleam.

"Okay, Reese, what is it you want exactly?" Danny asked.

The man's grin only widened, like a child being told they could play their favorite game. "Oh, I'm so glad you asked, Daniel. Let me ask, do you remember Michelle Bomgardner?"

Danny's eyes widened, but he kept his face neutral. "Doesn't ring a bell," he deadpanned, hoping his voice didn't give away his lie.

"Hmmmm. Interesting," the man said. Reese leaned forward, so close to make Danny begin to feel uncomfortable – or even more so since he was already chained like an animal – and whispered, "This next part? It's all on you, Daniel. It's because of you. Remember that the next time you see me and lie."

Then, he backed off and swept out of the room with his goons, leaving no trace they were there except for the sinking feeling in Danny's stomach.

"What did he say?" Steve asked as they heard the second door down the hallway bang close again.

Danny rubbed his face, cursing the chains and their insufferable noise. "He said the next part is because of me and to remember that the next time I lie to him," he admitted, hating the look of horror Kono quickly covered up and Chin's shifting movement. Steve just stared straight at him, but Danny could pick up the flicker of concern in his eyes before they became focused on the task at hand.

"Who's Michelle Bomgardner?" Steve asked. Danny glanced to the door.

Steve shook his head. "They're gone. No cameras. What are we dealing with, Danny?"

A huff of breath left Danny before he began to speak. "Old case of mine from Jersey. Basically, she needed to get away and I helped her do that – changed her name and everything. A lower level WitSec, I guess. She-" Danny glanced at the door again and lowered his voice. "She's somewhere safe. Works at an orphanage now. Reese, or whoever the hell he is, must work for the gang she escaped, but they can't find her. Not just for her safety, but for the children in the orphanage."

"You don't have to convince us, brah. Don't worry, she'll be safe," Kono said with conviction, a fist formed at her side.

Chin nodded in time with Steve.

Danny felt himself relax. This was his team – his family. They'd get through this, somehow. He'd just have to channel SuperSEAL when those guys came back in here and – Don't think about it, Danny willed.

A thick _clank_ filled the room, Danny's head shooting up to stare in his partner's prison as a whirring sound coursed from it.

"What is that?" Danny asked, feeling more nauseous than he had before as he watched Steve cautiously move to the other end of the cage with the hole. "What is that, Steven?"

His question was answered when Steve moved his hand over the hole and Danny saw it shift toward the hole before it moved out of the way.

Danny felt sick as Steve answered what he feared. "It's sucking all the air out of the room."

Suddenly, it made sense why Reese hadn't chained Steve up. It didn't matter, in the end, because the air was being forcibly removed from the glass prison Steve was trapped in. They were leaving him to suffocate.

"You've gotta get out of there, Steve." His voice was strained, as if he were the one losing oxygen.

It's because of you.

Shut up! He wanted to shout, focusing his attention on Steve as he stripped himself of his outer shirt and let it weakly block the hole. Danny watched as his partner ran his hands along a part of the wall next to the hole, his shirt now blocking it from view.

"Steve, you've gotta get out of there, what are you doing?"

"Door," he heard him mumble under his breath.

Keep breathing, keep breathing, keep breathing.

"Boss, can you break through the glass?" Kono asked, tugging on her restraints in a useless attempt to help.

Steve abandoned the hidden door and stumbled over to the glass between him and his team.

A muted thudding filled the room in time with Danny's heartbeat as Steve smashed his fist into the glass again and again and again. Blood splattered against the glass on the last few hits, but the clear prison remained intact.

"Hit it, Steven!" Danny shouted.

Steve didn't say anything, but the look he threw Danny was enough to express his thoughts.

Pulling back his arm for another swing, Steve swayed on his feet, flattening his other hand on the glass, mouth opening in a silent gasp, lungs trying to get oxygen that wasn't there.

Danny's eyes widened into saucers, mouth agape in abject horror as he saw Steve's shirt that was blocking the hole drift gently to the ground.

"Steve," he whispered, hearing Kono and Chin shout something as Steve followed his shirt less gracefully, collapsing on the ground, fingers clawing at his chest. "Stop," he murmured. "Please, God, stop."

As suddenly as the whole thing started, it ended. One of Steve's hands fell limply to his side, the other still bunched up in his shirt.

"No. No, no, no, no. No! Steve! Steven!" Danny's voice cracked. "You son of a bitch, come out here! Come here!"

"Danny! Stop! Stop, Danny!" Kono shouted over the roaring in his ears.

He tore his eyes from his partner – who was most definitely not dead because there's no way he would let that happen – and to Kono, who had tears in her eyes and down her face, but still had her hands out in what looked like an attempt to calm him down.

"Danny," she whispered. "You need to stop, you're hurting yourself."

She glanced down, and he followed her eyes to his chained hands, where the manacles had dug into his flesh in his rush to aid his partner. Thick rivulets of blood ran down his hands and dripped steadily onto the floor.

Bang! The door down the hallway slammed open.

Danny turned his gaze to the door as it opened. Reese strutted through again, a Cheshire grin spread across his face. His goons were missing, but Danny couldn't care. In fact, he was glad. This way he could rip that smug smirk off his face and make him eat it.

Chin's deadly voice ripped him away from his musings. "Get the hell away from him."

At first, Danny assumed he was talking to Reese, but when he looked up, he realized Reese's two goons were in the glass prison – the door on the side that Steve couldn't open before swung wide, allowing Danny a glance into a darkened room.

The two goons – Danny didn't even give them names so it would be easier later when he shot them – dragged a cart into the room and hovered over Steve's body. When they shifted to the side, allowing him to see what was on the cart, Danny lost all breath in his lungs.

Reese leaned toward him once he knew Danny had seen the cart with an oxygen mask and defibrillator. "Tell me something, Daniel. Anything about Michelle. New name, where she works, where she lives – anything, and I'll bring him back."

His mouth opened and closed uselessly. Every time his mind decided to tell the man what he wanted, the other part shut him up to protect Michelle before another rebutted by telling him that Steve is dead, Steve is dead, Steve is dead.

"Quickly, now. I don't have all day, Daniel. And neither does your friend."

"Orphanage," he whispered, eyes fixated on Steve's limp hand. It almost seemed like he was reaching out to his team one last time. His face was turned away – probably on purpose, Danny thought.

"What was that?"

"She works at an orphanage," Danny said louder, forcing out the words before his brain caught up with it.

Reese paused, a knowing glint in his eye. Danny knew, too. This man could keep doing the same thing over and over. With Steve. With Kono and Chin. Again and again until they died and couldn't be brought back until Danny gave him everything he wanted to know. And Danny hated himself for it.

Nodding at his two men, Reese swept out of the room. Danny lost interest in him as the two men set to work on Steve, positioning his head back and placing two hands over his chest.

Danny stared at Steve's face, now partially visible. The one eye he could see was half-open, staring toward the ceiling but not seeing anything. Danny's heart clenched as Steve's body shifted at every compression.

He didn't count the number of compressions before Steve's lungs decided to take a gasp of air by themselves, his body, shifting inward.

The two goons left before Steve even got his bearings, but Danny let out the breath he was holding as his partner stared at the ceiling, heaving heavy breaths into his body.

"Steve." Danny's voice broke halfway through the word.

A wild hand came up and pressed into the glass. Steve's face eventually followed, eyes meeting his teammates one by one before staying on Danny.

Striking pain hit his knees before he realized he dropped to his knees. He gasped along with his partner, bending in half to rest his head against the cool ground.

It took an hour before anyone spoke, all the members of Five-Oh just sitting in one another's presence.

"Danny," Steve said, voice unsteadier than he'd like it.

His partner was already looking at him, but when he spoke, Danny's eyes focused. "What's wrong?"

"What happened?" Steve asked, sitting up and leaning against the glass as he looked out. "After I passed out."

Danny gaped. "Passed out? Passed out! Damnit, Steve, you didn't-" he cut himself off, turning his face upward and taking a deep breath.

"Reese said he'd bring you back if Danny told him something," Chin said, stepping in when it was clear Danny wasn't going to say anything.

Steve's eyes snapped back to his partner. "What did you tell him?" Danny closed his eyes.

"Danny, what did you-"

"I told him she worked at an orphanage, okay? Wow, he's sure to find her now. Back off, Steve, it's a small price to pay."

Silence reigned before Steve sighed. "It's okay, Danny. Calvary should be here soon."

That fired him up even more. "And how could you possibly know that, Steve? Huh? Can you read minds now or something?"

"Reading minds wouldn't be able to give me that knowledge," Steve pointed out. "Oh, right, I'm sorry. My bad for getting the wrong supernatural power."

Steve grinned at his team. He lifted up the hand on the other side of him that was hidden from view, a cell phone in it.

All three chained members of Five-Oh jerked forward. "You've had that the whole time?"

"How'd you get that, boss?"

"Have you called for help?"

Danny shook his head. "I'll repeat, you've had that the whole time? What the hell, Steven."

"I snagged it from one of Reese's men while they were over me. I didn't want to give anything away in case they were watching, but I sent a message to Duke. He should've tracked us already."

Kono grinned. "Nice one, boss."

This time Danny saw the door behind Steve open.

"Hey! Steve, watch out!" he shouted, his words mingling with the other members' warnings.

Steve, his reflexes still slow, turned a moment too late to stop the running goon from slamming his knee into the Commander's face, which smashed into the glass wall.

"Hey!" Danny cursed at his own uselessness again as his chains kept him from moving more than two feet. "Leave him alone!"

Reese wandered in behind the man, closing the door behind him as the goon subdued Steve by shoving his body to the floor and setting his knee on him. The other goon marched into the room with Danny, Kono, and Chin.

Danny growled at the goon in their room, wanting nothing more than to be let loose of his chains to smash his face into his skull.

"I'm afraid we're out of time, Daniel." Reese cast an intense look at Steve as he plucked the phone from the ground and dropped it in his pocket. "Given that Commander McGarrett has undoubtedly contacted the police already, we only have a few moments. This isn't how I wanted to do this, but it will have to do."

"If the police are on their way," Danny said, "then you should be leaving if you don't want to be shot."

Reese shook his head. "I'm not afraid of being arrested or ... shot, as you so eloquently put. I've got nothing to lose, Daniel. What about you?"

The man pulled out a gun and placed it to the back of Steve's head still pressed into the floor.

Danny shouted, eyes flicking between his partner's eyes – telling him not to let Reese know anything else – and the gun at his head, that bastard's finger on the trigger.

"Just to keep this interesting, I'll give you five seconds before I shoot the Commander and move on to your other teammates."

Danny's breath caught in his throat. "Five."

"Just let him go."

"Four."

"Please. Please, don't."

"Three."

Chin and Kono's shouts masked his own voice.

"Two."

His eyes locked with Steve's as his partner spoke. "Not a word, Danno."

Reese shoved the gun deeper into Steve's skull, making the man wince. "One."

Danny watched his hand tense and started doing the one thing he could always rely on himself to do: talk.

"Okay! Okay. All right. You win, Reese. Just ... don't," his strong voice weakened throughout his small rant.

Lifting the gun from his head, Reese continued to keep the gun pointed in Steve's general area. "I'm not playing games. Tell me what I want to know right now or I swear I will kill them all. And then I might have to go pay a visit to that daughter of yours-"

"You stay the hell away from her!" Danny shouted, jerking forward in his chains again, his wrists stinging in discomfort.

Luckily for him, Steve was one step ahead, pushing his elbow back and nailing the goon in the face. He rolled over, shoving the man off him. As he turned his attention to Reese, the man pulled the trigger.

 _Bang_!

It echoed in the small chamber. Steve's body jolted back, slamming into the ground.

Danny shouted, almost missing the sound of sirens in the distance.

Reese glanced up. "Damnit, we're out of time. Jones, come with me. Liveston, get rid of the rest and bring Daniel."

The two in the glass chamber left through the door, leaving it swinging open. Danny only glanced at his unmoving partner, the blood stain underneath him growing larger with every second, before turning his attention to the goon – Liveston – pointing a gun at them.

"Don't you dare," Danny growled, jerking his body forward.

Liveston took a step back, right into Kono's reach. She kicked him hard in the knee before grabbing hold and slamming him into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Danny watched Kono search the man and find the keys to their manacles – thank God – before turning his attention to his partner. "Steve? Steve, can you hear me? I need you to answer me, babe."

Kono was in front of him, unlocking his hands from the chains. As soon as he was free, he raced around her and out of the room. He zipped around corners as fast as he could, holding on to some to twist him around faster.

Running into the glass cage, he briefly acknowledged Chin and Kono leaving their side before focusing all his attention on Steve.

He knelt next to him, blood staining his pants. Searching gently for the wound, he found it in the abdomen. "I swear to God, Steve, I am not giving you the other half of my liver," he said before pressing his hands over the wound.

"Given how much grief you gave me over the first half, I wouldn't want it," Steve murmured under his breath, voice hitching as his pain increased.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon, Steve, open your eyes for me."

Slowly, ever so painstakingly slowly, Steve's eyes became half-lidded.

"Keep 'em open, babe. All right? You know the drill."

Steve grunted, a hand shooting up and landing on Danny's shirt, a bloody handprint left in its wake as it fell from exhaustion.

"Listen, Danno, I-" "Shut up, Steven."

"Watch out fo-for Mary."

"I said shut up, you Neanderthal," Danny said, eyes stinging. "Look after her yourself."

"You ... you'd say the same ... in m-my ... po-position."

Danny opened his mouth, but the lump in his throat shut him up and wouldn't let any of his words pass. "Keep breathing," he gasped out. "Please, Steve."

Steve's eyes sparkled the same way they did every time he did something Danny explicitly told him not to do.

"Sorry, Danno," he whispered, eyes slipping closed.

"No. No, no! You don't get to do this. Not after everything. Wake up, you idiot. Wake up!"

Danny didn't remember what happened next other than the fact that Steve was no longer in front of him.

Paramedics, Kono told him. He could see her lips move, but his ears were ringing. Keep breathing.

Sorry, Danno.

Two days later, Danny still found himself repeating the mantra over and over. Keep breathing, keep breathing, keep breathing.

Touch and go, the doctor had said. We're not sure if he'll make it.

Two days later, they finally were "optimistic." Whatever the hell that means.

Danny sighed, scrubbing his hands down his face. His wrists, like Chin and Kono's, were bandaged. "Wake up, idiot," he said. "I'm tired of sleeping in this stupid hospital room. These chairs are not as comfortable as they look."

"That's quite a feat considering they don't look all that comfortable in the first place," a scratchy voice replied.

Danny whipped his head up, taking in the sight of his partner, a damned smirk on his face, staring at him.

"Steve." "Danny."

"Are you okay? Should I get the doctor? What am I saying, of course I should get the doctor, you'll just lie to whatever I say."

"Hang on a sec. Let me get my bearings."

Danny sighed. "The doctor helps you do that, Steve."

Steve just glared.

Raising his hands, Danny surrendered for now and just stared at his breathing and awake partner.

"What happened? After I was shot. Did you tell him anything? They get away?" Steve's eyes widened in something Danny wasn't used to – fear. "Grace, is she okay?"

Danny's heart warmed at his partner's concern for his little girl. "Hey, hey. Relax, Steve. Gracie's fine. Chin and Kono got the two who escaped. Apparently, Reese and Jones fell a lot. Got scraped up a bit." While Danny was glad they didn't get away unharmed, he wished he'd been the one to dish out a little vengeance.

Steve studied him. "And you didn't tell him anything more about Michelle?" "Nope." Danny shook his head.

Sighing, Steve visibly relaxed, sinking further into the pillows.

"Hey, don't think you're getting off that easy, babe. You pulled some stupid stuff back there."

Steve chuckled. "Oh, I know I'll hear about it. Just, later, okay?"

Smiling, Danny nodded, deciding to prepare an extra-long rant for when he woke up as Steve drifted off again. This time, Danny wasn't scared of him not being able to breathe.

 **Hey! Thanks for reading! If you have a minute, please consider leaving a comment; I'd love to hear what you have to say!**


End file.
